We still rely on traditional tools like text and html editors such as BBEdit and Dreamweaver and of course Photoshop is an all important tool, but in short most, of the heavy lifting is done programatically by the Joomla API, PHP and MySql.

We spent a lot of time developing and integrating all of the Open Source components such as Gallery2, Community Builder, JoomlaBord, Mamblog, ATK Comment, and so. Using all these tools frees us up after we get them working to concentrate on creating content..... and of course managing users and creating the installation itself.